Frances welcomes John Dalla Via from Egger to the podcast this week to talk about sustainable wood based on products. As market leaders in the creation of chipboard with the highest percentage of post-consumer and post-industrial waste, it’s great to understand how leading companies are creating sustainable products across all industries. John outlines what to ask when considering cabinetry and laminate products when sustainability is a core objective. 

John also shares how Egger as a company is part of the UN Global Compact to meet social and ethical milestones too. 

In this episode of the podcast Frances outlines what to consider for your interiors from a sustainability perspective. From floorplans, hard materials, soft furnishings, window treatments and lighting, she outlines ways to perhaps think differently about what you can do to make better sustainable choices for your home. 

Learn the best ways to create or improve the energy load in your home in this practical and informative episode of the podcast with Anna Cumming, Editor of Sanctuary Magazine.  

Frances and Anna discuss how you can design, improve, renovate or build a home to create a low impact, sustainable and low energy home that doesn't have to break the bank.  

From the 7 star Naters ratings, how to brief your designer and go shopping for an energy efficient home, right through to the reasons for only going electric and eliminating gas. 

A great episode if you're looking at making small energy efficient changes, right through to designing a new low energy home. 

As part of the Sustainable Homes and Living Season, Frances welcomes Itay Shimony from Cosentino to chat through the environmental credentials of their hard surface materials produced in Spain. In particular, they chat about the Circular economy Cosentino has created in the company, and the production of minimal silica in their reconstituted stone products, along with carbon neutral Dekton. 

As a family business, Cosentino are also strong contributors to their local community in Spain, creating a sense of responsibility to the environment, and their people. 

In this episode of the podcast for the Sustainablity Series, Frances chats with guest David Baggs, CEO and Co-Founder of Green Tag - an international creditation for all types of eco products. David explains how products are able to be acceditated using their third party creditation process, that covers a diverse and wide range of products. This assists consumers to select healthier and more environmentally and sustainable products for their home. 

In this episode of the podcast, Frances is joined by her partner, Neil, as they chat about how they went about designing and building their Award Winning, Sustainable Forever Home. They discuss the challenges, the things they didn't compromise on, and how the whole project came together. 

This is an information rich episode on how to get started and what to keep in mind when considering a sustainable and energy efficient home.

In this episode of the podcast, Frances welcomes back Sally Flower from Home Sanctuary to chat about buying in a more conscious manner. We discuss the changes in consumer buying behaviour in a world full of advertising and messages to consume and want more, when actually it's not necessary. 

There are plenty of tips and ways that we can buy in a more conscious way, that will not only save our wallet, but also add to our overall happiness. Sally and I talk about how this can be achieved in this super informative and thought provoking episode. 

Frances welcomes Sally Flower from Home Sanctuary as her guest in this episode of the podcast to discuss how to declutter in a mindful and sustainable way, and minimise stress in your life!  

How to choose what to discard from your home, but also how to discard items in a sustainable way. 

Learn the simple process to start decluttering and being mindful of the journey, before you set out. The end result will be a calm home that you can relax in, while being surrounded by things you love that have purpose and meaning. 

Frances runs through what will be coming up in the Sustainability Season, highlighting some of her guests, as well as who the Season has been created for and what topics she's going to be covering. 

In this Facebook Forever Home Live Frances discusses some key functionality points to consider in your home design before the build starts. She outlines small details that are often missed that affect the functionality of your home, and lead to disappointment when not picked up in time to rectify.

Doors Close 8pm TODAY!

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 SHOWNOTES: 

Sometimes, homeowners can rush with getting their floor plans completed as they are so keen to get their home built or renovated.  

However, not getting your floor plans right has a long-term detrimental effect on the outcome of your home and can end up costing you a lot more in the long run. 

The key is to slowdown so you can review your floor plans with your vision and brief in mind. This will also allow you to review all spaces and rooms in your plans, to see if any spaces are likely to be under utilised.  

 Under utilised rooms ultimately waste money, energy, and resources. The key is not to jeopardise premium floor space in your home when it could be used for something else.  

So what are the most common under utilised spaces;-  

The Spare room 

Spare rooms are set up for guests to have a comfortable place to stay, but how often do they stay, and what is the spare room being used for all the other days and months when you don't have guests in the room? 

Think about creating multiple functions for your spare room for when you don't have guests. 

For instance, your spare room can serve as an office while being able to welcome guests every now and then.  

Formal dining room 

Traditional homes sometimes have two dining rooms, the additional dining space is often what we refer to as the "formal dining rooms". Often this room is never used, or so infrequently, that it doesn't translate to good use of space.  

To maximise it, you need to assess how often you are going to utilise the space. 

Ideas: 

• It could be closed off and used as a separate room.  
• It could be carved up to add space to another room (i.e walk-in pantry or into the kitchen space) 

Formal living area or Secondliving  

Having a second living area is a great idea as it can be used as another living space for privacy. It also enables other family members to watch different shows or do different things. However, the second living needs to be set up correctly for it to reach its full potential.  

Think about how you want to use space and how you want them to feel a second living area. Your second living area is a great opportunity to create something different from open plan living.  

To do this, you can create a different "feeling" in space by having: 

• Different flooring  
• Heavier style window treatments  
• Different furniture style  
• Different colour palette and textures  

Lastly, you must be able to close off this space off to create a separate zone and mitigate noise from other living areas to fully maximise the uitilisation of a second living room. 

In summary 

Think about the requirements for these spaces and how they will be used.  

Questions to ask: 

• How frequently are you going to use the space?
• How can you create multi-functional spaces?
• How does your lifestyle suit the spaces on the floorplan?
• What do you need for your family and how will this room make a difference to how you live in the space? 

A room that is hardly ever used costs money to build, time to maintain it, energy to heat or cool it and resources to have it there.  

It’s all about making your floorplans work super hard and be relevant to what you need. 

Upcoming Free Online Masterclass 

Learn the key steps to get you on the path to completing the interior design of your own home. Plus kill that crushing question ‘I don’t know where to start’. 

Join my brand new online masterclass- "5 Essentials to Know Before You Start Designing Your Home".  

Choose from the following dates below: 

• Tuesday 1st March 2022 at 7pm AEDT 
• Thursday 3rd March 2022 at 12 noon AEDT 
• Wednesday 9th March 2022 at 6pm AEDT 

Register your spot now  

If you can't make it, I'll send you the replay 

Available Resources 

Want to learn more about floorplans? Listen to episode 97 of My Forever Home Podcast- “Floorplans and getting them right” as Frances discusses the steps to take if your floorplans are not what you want. Click here to listen to the episode.  

Or read our blog on “Creating Forever Home Floor Plans and Getting them Right” to ensure your home can adapt to your changing needs over time. Read the article here.  

In this episode of the podcast, Frances outlines how important it is to create a vision for your home, and that a vision is not just about the way you want your home to look. She outlines what a vision is for your home, what you should think about when creating it, and how to go about it to make it about aesthetics as well as functionality.

In this episode of My Forever Home, Frances runs through key considerations when deciding on your flooring type. She outlines 10 buying criteria for choosing the right floor for your home along with key mistakes people can make when deciding on their floor, and how best to avoid those mistakes. The floor in your home makes a big impact and has to work really hard for you, so it’s important to be informed about different flooring available, choose carefully, and buy the best you can afford.

In this episode of My Forever Home, Frances outlines what she terms the ‘Key 4’ specialists you’ll need on your team for your renovation or new build. She outlines the benefits of engaging your key team early on, along with how they can each save you money and lots of time, as well as mitigate expensive mistakes. She outlines what each of them brings to the equation for a successful outcome for your home project.

In this episode of the podcast, part 3 of this three-part series on how Frances designed and built her Forever Home, this episode explores how Frances managed the build of her home.

She outlines how she did it, what she’d do differently, and the opportunity cost of project managing your own build.

Shownotes :

Tender process

Usually, building designers will manage the tendering process. This means that they are responsible for engaging with the builders, sending out all the tender documentation and specifications, reviewing the quotes, and liaising with the builders throughout the process with queries and follow-up.

Frances managed the whole tendering process for her build.

• She engaged with the builders to check availability, gauge their interest, and arrange site visits to see previous work.
• She also liaised with the builders to manage expectations on the turnaround of the quote and answered any queries.

All builders quote differently, so it was up to Frances to check what was in and out of each quote to form a consistent comparison

Frances created a spreadsheet so that she could make a clear comparison about what was in and not in the quote.

Build Process

For the Forever Home, the builder they used was one they had worked with in the past at their previous home. It was also decided that Frances would manage the build from the ‘Lockup’ stage as she had her own tradespeople, (her builder and her shared many trades), and then the builder would come back at the end for fit off.

As she had a good relationship with the builder, and he knew how meticulous and organized she was, he agreed to go down this path with her, but he also challenged her and told her if she was going to manage the ‘Lock up’ phase, that she won’t be in by the deadline of Christmas 2014, but Frances is determined and moved into the house prior to Christmas of that year!

Once everything had been roughed in and plaster was in, Frances then managed all the trades that came in after that.

• Tiler, cabinet maker, caulker, painter, electrician, stonemason, garage doors, range hood installation, shower screens, delivery of all supplies, plus the landscaper and pool people.

• She was on site every day to check progress, manage to change schedules and answer queries. Each day there was something else that changed, and the schedule was a moving beast due to supply delays with trades, equipment, and one small change had a huge knock-on effect for other trades and their schedules with all their projects..

Why did Frances manage the project?

• She had the right contacts.
• Her skill set and experience gave her the confidence to do it.
• To save money as she was not paying a builder’s margin on top of all trades.

However, the stakes were much higher as she was building her own ‘Forever Home’.

• The finish had to be higher
• It represented her business and the work she can do - an example of what she can achieve for her clients
• A sustainability showcase

The ‘costs’ of managing the build herself

• It was difficult for Frances to work on her business as normal as she was required daily on-site.
• Managing multiple trades could sometimes lead to grey areas on who was doing what.
• She had to consider the opportunity cost as she was not able to work on her own business.
• Stress, the long days, and the toll on her family
• It involves a lot of negotiation- even after the builder was back on-site, Frances was still negotiating with the builder and landscaper for access, timings for driveway pour, etc.

 Things that she would have done differently:

• It is easy to make rash decisions on-site when stress levels are high.
• If she had her time over, Frances would have been stricter with her builder and insisted on the finish being as per plan, and not the easier option. She should have stuck to her guns. Some compromises made she regrets are;
  • Mitered edges on all the windows in the ensuite – not some.
  • Cut of the shower waste not matching with the grout line.
  • Plumbing for shower not in the right location. She couldn’t get more tiles in the same batch, so she had to live with it.

Other changes she would make if building again;

• Square set door frames – no architraves
• She would get an architect to oversee the building project and manage the builder.
• Not manage a build again
• Her partner would have a smaller house, but Frances feels that they use every single room in their home, so it’s a well-used space, on a daily basis.  
• There were many decisions they wanted to make, that were not possible then, but if building today they could achieve more given access to current technology, knowledge, or supplies.
• Would not go with their own advice about not having shade provision for east-facing windows.

• Learning: Make sure that you have got the right people working for you and that they really know about what they do.

• Would have gone for dispensation to have higher ceilings in the kids’ bedrooms and have larger kids’ rooms.
  • Key takeaways:

Find the right people for your build or renovation project

• They need to understand what you want
• You need to have a great relationship with your renovation or new build team

Resources available: 

Unsure how to find the right people for your renovation or new build? 

Download this FREE guide- How to Find your Renovation or New Build Team as this gives you the checklist and process on how you find the right people for your team. 

In this special 3 part series 'Designing and Building my Own Forever Home', Frances will take you on her own Forever Home Journey. In this episode, Part 1 of the series, Frances outlines how she created the vision for her home along with how she researched and found her architect to design the home. This series is a wonderful insight, and personal story, warts and all, of how Frances designed and built her own Forever Home.

In this podcast episode, Frances lets you into a week of her life of being an interior designer and running her own business. She outlines each day, what typically goes on and what curve balls she has to tackle when it doesn’t all go according to plan.

It’s a great insight into the world of an open and upfront interior designer, who tells it like it is, and is raw and real in this episode. You’ll get to see, it’s not all as glamourous as you may think!

Welcome to a week in the life of Frances Cosway.

In this short and sharp episode, Frances discusses the coordination of bathroom floor tiles with the main flooring throughout the home, and how tiles cannot be looked at in isolation from other materials in the home.

She chats about the overall colour tone being used in the home, either warm or cool, and how that also needs to be reflected in bathroom material choices.

SHOWNOTES

A key bathroom mistake Frances often sees is NOT looking at the entire flow of material selections from one part of the home into another.

Creating continuity

The floor is one of the key areas that links our home together and creates continuity throughout.

How to create continuity?

The same colour tone throughout

For example;

• Hard Flooring (Warm Colour Tone) & Carpet (Warm Colour Tone)
• Hard Flooring (Cool Colour Tone) & Carpet (Cool Colour Tone)

Tiles- The floor tile being used in your bathroom, ensuite or powder room should marry into the floor that it's butting up against, be that a timber floor, carpet or another tile.

Be sure to obtain samples so you can see how the floor material and the floor tile work together and that they are of the same tone.

Free Upcoming Webinar

5 Costly Bathroom Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Frances is hosting this webinar on the 24th November at 7PM-8PM AEDT.

Click here to reserve your spot.